Rattlers Keep Playoff Dreams Alive With Win Over New York

The Rochester Rattlers were able to stay in the playoff race after they defeated the New York Lizards 13-12 on Saturday, July 27th.

Rochester lost their lead in the fourth quarter, but a late goal by Steve DeNapoli served to be the difference as the Rattlers were able to beat the Lizards to pick up their fifth win on the season. Standout rookie Dave Lawson led all scorers with five goals to help Rochester improve to a 5-7 overall record, and to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Rochester started off the first quarter on Saturday night rolling on all cylinders, opening the quarter with a three-goal run. Rookie All-Star John Ranagan extended his scoring streak to seven games when he struck first for Rochester just 33 seconds into the game with his 15th goal of the year. Lawson also extended his own scoring streak to six games just over two minutes later, making the score 2-0. After a John Galloway save at the 4:02 mark of the first, defenseman Tom Montelli stepped over the two-point arc after a Joel White feed and fired one home to put Rochester up 3-0. New York scored the next two goals with scores from Stephen Peyser and David Earl to bring the score to 3-2, but Lawson responded with two more goals for Rochester to finish out the quarter. Lawson scored his second of the night with 2:43 left to play, and recorded the hat trick on the man advantage after a Mike Unterstein slashing call with just 24 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to bring Rochester into the second quarter leading New York, 5-2.

New York started off the second quarter wasting no time with a goal just 48 seconds in from Rob Pannell to make the score 5-3, but play came to a halt after the Pannell score, with neither team finding the net for the next 9:34. The next goal didn’t come until Earl finally broke the silence at the 10:22 mark of the second quarter with his second of the night to make the score 5-4. One more goal would be scored before the end of the half, when Rochester’s Kyle Denhoff scored his fifth of the year to extend the Rattlers lead to 6-4. Rattlers’ Mike Manley was called for a slashing penalty with just under two minutes to play in the half, but Rochester was successfully able to kill off the penalty and head into the second half leading the Lizards 6-4.

The Rattlers started off the second half fast, with two goals to lead off the third quarter. 1:24 into the second half, Lawson put in his fourth of the night, and just over five minutes later, Denhoff snuck one past New York goalie Drew Adams for his second strike of the night to put the Rattlers on top of the Lizards, 8-4. Following the Denhoff goal, New York took control of the third with two goals by Stephen Mock to close out the third with a 4-1 run. Midfielder Jordan MacIntosh was able to score off his own rebound to make it 9-6 with 1:14 left to play in the quarter, but New York’s Tommy Palasek was able to score once more with just six seconds left to play to head into the fourth and final quarter trailing the Rattlers 9-8.

Rochester opened up scoring quickly in the final frame, when just 24 seconds in DeNapoli controlled the faceoff, and White took a Ned Crotty feed to tally his third of the season to put the Rattlers up by two, 10-8. Pannell would score his second just over a minute later, but DeNapoli rebounded with an underhand rip 3:07 into the quarter to keep Rochester ahead 11-10. The Lizards then went on a three goal run with goals from Costabile, Pannell, and Palasek that gave them their first lead of the night and put them ahead of the Rattlers 12-11 with 7:34 left to play in the fourth. The Rattlers would not be stopped though, as Lawson recorded his team leading fifth goal of the night at the 9:26 mark of the fourth to tie the game back up at 12. DeNapoli would put the Rattlers back on top of the Lizards when he scored his second of the game off a Crotty assist with 4:33 remaining to give Rochester a 13-12 lead. The DeNapoli goal would prove to be the game winner, as Rochester was able to kill off the remainder of the clock, and defeat the Lizards with a final score of 13-12.

Faceoff man John Ortolani went 8-29 in the faceoff department, and John Lade and Joel White led the Rattlers with four ground balls each. Galloway also tallied 11 saves in the win. Saturday’s win puts Rochester in a tie with Boston for fifth place in the league, one game out of the final playoff spot with two games left to play.

Rochester will next battle Chesapeake next Saturday, August 3rd at 7:00 PM. You can catch that game on ESPN3.